The Lost Battalion
by Thomas M. Johnson
2020-07-16 19:48:14
The Lost Battalion, first published in 1963, is the World War Two saga of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Division, U.S. Army. This unit was made up primarily of citizen soldiers of the National Guard based in Texas. The men, en-route ...
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The Lost Battalion, first published in 1963, is the World War Two saga of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Division, U.S. Army. This unit was made up primarily of citizen soldiers of the National Guard based in Texas. The men, en-route to the Philippines at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack are rerouted to Java (now part of Indonesia), where they take part in the defense of an air base and the city of Surabaya, something they were neither trained nor equipped to do. As their situation became hopeless, the unit surrendered to the Japanese and were transported to several camps in Japan and Manchuria, where they spent more than three years in captivity under brutal, debilitating conditions. The term “Lost Battalion” refers to the unit’s apparent disappearance as no word on its fate was received for more than two years after their capture. The author, Hollis G. Allen, then a first lieutenant, writes in a somewhat awkward style, but the book includes a host of details about the group’s experience while prisoners and of their eventual release and travels back to America. An appendix is included which lists the names and rank of the members of The Lost Battalion.
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